Indian outsourcer Infosys has coughed CHF330 (£218m) in cash for SAP consultancy Lodestone.

The management consultancy is headquartered in Switzerland, but it has global operations including a burgeoning footprint in the UK.

"A key plank of our Infosys 3.0 strategy is to expand our Consulting & Systems Integration (C&SI) business. This acquisition fits perfectly into that strategy," claimed Infosys CEO S. D. Shibulal.

The buy will add 850 staffers, including 750 SAP consultants, to the 30,000 bods the outsourcer already employs in its C&SI unit.

Infosys said the deal also adds 200 new clients across verticals including manufacturing, automotive and life sciences. The outsourcer already has 700 customers in ten verticals, and the expanded operation will turn over $1bn a year, it said.

The deal, which is expected to close by the end of October, dwarfs other moves in the SAP channel - such as Itelligence UK's gobbling of Blueprint Management Systems in July to build a £40m business.

In the last filed accounts for the year to 31 December 2011, Lodestone achieved £9.8m sales in the UK, up from £4.6m in the previous 12 months, and made an operating profit of £867,000 compared to a loss last year of £834,000. ®